Finally realized I was cutting my grass too short after a neighbor walked over and asked why my lawn looked like a desert

I had been scalping it down to 1 inch for years until last July when the heat wave killed half my yard and the old guy next door told me 3 inches is the magic number for NH summers, anyone else make that mistake when they first moved here?

3 comments

3 Comments

fiona_lane2d ago

Olivia_carr7 I think we were both trying to win a lawn bowling championship instead of just letting the grass live its life... Took a scorched yard and a wise old neighbor to realize my mower deck was set to "desert mode" that whole time. Now I keep it around 3 inches and my grass looks more like a sweater than a buzz cut, which is way less embarrassing when someone walks by.

dakotacraig5d ago

I read this thing from the University of New Hampshire extension service that said cool season grasses like we have here actually stop growing roots when you cut them below 2 inches. So basically I was stunting my lawn for years without knowing it. The article said taller grass shades the soil and keeps moisture in during heat waves like the one you mentioned. I switched to 3.5 inches this year and my yard is way greener even when it doesn't rain for a week. Plus I don't have to water as much so my bill went down a little. The old guy was right about 3 inches being the sweet spot for our area.

olivia_carr75d ago

Funny you mention that... I’d been mowing my yard like it was a golf course for two years before I figured out I was basically giving my grass a buzz cut in the middle of a drought. Ended up with these sad little brown patches that looked like a bad toupee. Switched to the taller setting last summer and now my neighbors probably think I’m a lawn genius when really I just stopped being an idiot with the mower deck.